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Friday, June 26, 2015

Up until a few days ago we were living the high life. We could go for walks and jump on the trampoline well into the evening. It was all good but then THEY showed up. Those blood sucking little vampires that make going outside anytime of day a nightmare.

Before we went camping I had made us a mosquito bar but we didn't need it. No bugs and that's the way it's been until now.

Since this to me is a "does it really work" Pinterest review I have been passing this bar around and getting people's opinion. So far it fallen in the "yes" category and it's been working against some major battles too. Ive been able to water my plants in the evening with literally swarms circling me, bouncing off me and no bites. I've tried another deet free bug spray with not as much luck. Sustain Create and Flow is where this pin originally came from and I found it to be a quick and easy recipe to follow.

In the recipe she took out the coconut oil but I put it back in. I also didn't exactly follow the amount of essential oils either. Some of the oils we can't get here as written so I had to improvise.My "bugless" oil was mostly citronella oil but I did add a bit of lavender too.

In the end I went by smell, so mine has a very strong citronella/ lemongrass to it. I'd say I put in at least 20 drops of citronella and anywhere from 10-15 of the rest.

After application of the bar the smell eventually will dissipate and you need to reapply maybe every hour if you were going to be continuously outside. I'm ok with that because everytime I'm using it I'm mostuizing my arms and legs and my skin is loving that.

You may ask why didn't I make a spray? I still might but I think this is easier to apply where I want it and easier to put on little ones arms and legs.

Ok here's what mine looks like. Not pretty like the ones you see on Pinterest but I'm ok with that as long as it works.:)

Monday, June 15, 2015

It was our first camping trip of the year with the the old girl back to my paradise. The interesting thing about going to the same spot year after year is how much it's changed from the year before.

The very first time we went 5 years ago it looked like this.

Now it looks like this.

Where we used to walk out on that flat rock area... the water now greets us at the edge of the brush.

It's amazing to see how high the lake has gotten!

Before we left for our trip I found a recipe from Dash of Nostalgia. Caramelized onion, tomato and goat cheese Tart. ( really... go check out her creation)

I've been wanted to try my hand at cooking on an open fire for awhile now and this seemed like a recipe that could work. If it didn't I could always throw it on the bbq to finish it since I knew the heat of the fire was going to be a tricky thing. For us virgin campfire cookers we thought less of a fire/heat then more for our first attempt at this.

First Roger built the fire up to get a good bunch of coals on the bottom while I prepared the tart.

I had to change a few things from the originally recipe for someone who shall remain nameless who's not a fan of rosemary or goat cheese. Since it was just the two of us I also cut the recipe slightly in half.

Here's what I used.

One pkg of puff pastry

250 grams of cottage cheese

2 eggs

1 onion

1 cup mushrooms

1 cup broccoli

2 small tomatoes

and 1 cup of cheese to top it with.

I generously greased my cast iron pan with butter for this experiment and would probably do it the same way again because it gave such a lovely crispy crust. But I'm jumping ahead.

So everything now put together like the original recipe...

(minus the broccoli and cheese, they were an afterthought)

and covered with foil, off to the fire we went.

We knocked down the fire and slowly added wood one piece at a time as needed to keep what we thought would be an even heat.

We timed it at about 20 mins. We moved it around quite a bit too sometimes over direct heat, then off to the side, back over the heat. I think this gave us the gave us the best result.

I served it with a caesar salad and we were both impressed with ourselves at how great it turned out.

I will one day make it as Lindsay intended it to be but either way I make this recipe, this one is a keeper. Thanks Miss Lane!! :)

Friday, June 5, 2015

Long before leggings or jeggings or super slim fitting jeans or pants, came the cigarette pant. Heck if you goggle it now you can find they've made a comeback of epic proportions but I'd have to say in my opinion it was the most beautiful Audrey Hepburn who made the women of the 60's covet these pants.

I wanted a pair of pants that I could wear year round more or less so I wanted a comfy stretch denim. I had no idea that denim( I haven't bought denim in years and years) had gotten so pricey at $20 a meter and then I had to do a quick pro/con list.

Pro- I'll get the pant that I want and it would be the vintage high waisted loveliness I'm becoming accustomed to.

Con- I can probably find something similar in a low rise much cheaper then 40 plus dollars

The latter was winning out in my mind but I had one more chance at obtaining my goal. The remnant pile!!

Searching through the remnant pile like I was searching for the Holy Grail I found approximately 2 meters of stretch denim at $8 meter. Now we were in business, pants for under $20.

But wait...when I took my fabric to be measured she asked me if I'd be willing to give my email address to get an additional 50% off. Uhh YES.

My new jeans were going to cost me $8 in fabric plus a zipper and thread. Now this cheap thrifty little dutch girl was dancing in her wooden shoes.

Fitting and sewing pants is not for the faint hearted I'm learning. It took me a trial run in another stretch fabric and one in cotton to get major fitting issues out of the way. (I'm thinking I might want a cotton capri from this pattern as well)

With my new jeans I still had to tweak some fitting issues and with the help of YouTube I'm now happy with the fit and have worn them a few times and I find them super comfortable. I've rolled the pant leg up and down, so I'm checking the box that allows me to wear them all year as long as it's not too hot out.

One day people I will own a serger but for now my seams are old school.

Sew, trim and a zig zag stitch to finish them off.

I can see why women adored these fun, casual pants so much because...

Oh look you can pretend to water the plants when its' pouring outside in them.:)

Monday, June 1, 2015

It's been "hot then it's cold" and I've been "busy as a bzzzz bee" throughout it all. ( hehe a little musical humour for you)
But seriously folks, we've had hot spring days already and as usual it's caught me off guard in the clothing department. Want I want is clothing that can be worn that gets me through the chilly spring days but also the dog days of summer.

" Welcome to the Sixties" Ok, ok .. I know I've said before that I wasn't a fan of the sixties style of clothing and now I appear to be a liar. What I've come to like is what I like to call sixties casual.

By the way, I'm still not thrilled about taking pictures of myself. Those Sear Catalogue poses, what to do with your hands, the far off looks you give... so I find myself looking through the pictures and coming up with captions for them.

This one says " oh look, it's raining and I'm pretending I'm not freezing because it's only 8 degrees outside"

This one says " Oh no!! My sweater is falling off. Now I know I'm bound to freeze because it's only 8 degrees outside. Who will save me!!!!!" No worries, I saved myself.

I originally thrifted the sweater because of it's brand new just knitted condition. Some may have passed on this sweater because of its electric orange colour but I saw it at least as something to wear around Halloween. The earrings were also a fun find.

But what this picture was really saying is this shirt started out it's life looking like this.

I bought this shirt the other day at Goodwill because it was gingham annnddd it was a peachy orange gingham. I knew I wanted to tear it apart and put it back together and if it didn't work, no biggy I'd cut it up even further to become something else.

Here's what I did do. I took the sleeves and collar off and opened the sides.

From the sleeves I fashioned a new 60's wider collar from a pattern I had. I added darts in the sides and made the shirt a little more fitted at my waist. I trimmed the top of sleeve back a bit so it hit better on my shoulder and made a facing from bias tape.

I'd say success for me!!

The question you may be asking yourself is why not just buy an already made shirt.

1. It likely won't have that vintage feel I want.

2. It was a super cheap shirt that I didn't have to pay a lot of money for and since the fabric feels high end..bonus!

3. No muslin making!!!

4. Although not the answer to the real problem it was one less shirt made in a probable sweat shop.

( it says made in Malaysia so I am just assuming, feel free to correct me)

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About Me

The kids have grown and its time for me to let my hair down!
I've begun to create a niche in this world mostly involving fabric, paint, and building supplies. Sprinkle in few vintage pieces and for me thats the beginning of a great shin-dig.